The CultureMob Guide to Bumbershoot 2011 – Labor Day Weekend, September 3-5

Bumbershoot returns on September 3, 2011. Photo by Christopher Nelson.

Bumbershoot returns on September 3, 2011. Photo by Christopher Nelson.

That’s right, Bumbershoot is almost upon us once again, and CultureMob has coverage for you throughout the Labor Day weekend. Whether you’re heading to the festival to see the hottest bands, the coolest short films, or the smartest literary and artistic events, we’ve got your back.

We’ll be reporting from the festival from when the gates open on Saturday until they close again on the Monday – and there’s good news ahead. The forecast is for warm and dry weather all weekend, so you won’t be needing your bumbershoot (or bumpershoot… there seems to be some divergence on the spelling!). Instead you can kick back and enjoy one of the best value weekends of entertainment that Seattle has to offer.

If you haven’t bought a ticket yet, you can get those from the official Bumbershoot website, where they also have a great customizable schedule for the festival. When you’re choosing your schedule and making your plans, however, you may want to check out these articles:

The Arts at Bumbershoot – What to See – “You could conceivably take in enough big names, newcomers, comedy, art, theater, film and other hard-to-categorize performances that you’d hardly have time to catch a music show.”

Bumbershoot 2011: Film Preview – “Broken up into easily digestible, bite sized nuggets that usually run about an hour, each block has a built in theme.”

In addition, we’d like to highlight the following not-to-be-missed events at the festival – these are the events that might just pull you away from all that live music. Be certain to arrive at the venues early, as these will be popular festival highlights:

Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis Explore Wildwood – “Steeped in both the literary tradition of C.S. Lewis and a love of Oregon’s wild places, it’s a dark, dramatic tale that’s certain to keep readers glued to the page â€“ both children and adults.”

Over the last few months we’ve also interviewed many of the artists appearing at the festival, some of them especially for this preview. Check out the following interviews for more info on each act, as well as exclusive interview material:

The Jim Jones Revue interview – “When you hear early Little Richard recordings they still sound vitalâ€¦ It’s not the form, it’s the presentation.”

You Am I interview – “I don’t wanna be the same guy I was when I was 25. He was kind of a dick… as a band we always wanna just make a bleary boozy mess live, but on record it changes from day to day.”

Astronautalis interview – “It is just like going to a church service with the Pentecostal Snake Handlersâ€¦ only with less snakes, more rap, and the exact same amount of whiskey.”

STRFKR interview – “Reptilians is named after the conspiracy theory that there’s, like, a governing alien race in a dimension right outside of ours. It’s kind of inspired by that.”

Grand Hallway interview – “A bunch of old dudes behind us started hootin’ and hollering really loud when we finally kissed, during the encore. I think they thought I was a girl. I get that a lot.”

Campfire OK interview – “And I drew, like, a campfire on a coaster, while I was bartending, and for some reason underneath it I just put â€˜OK’. And that was it, it was really just a campfire and it said OK. And I was, like, this is so silly.”

Curtains For You interview – “Davey is the most proficient piano player. He can’t read music, but you play anything to him, and he can play it back to you exactly.”

The Lonely Forest interview – “If I grew a beard (I can’t) and started playing mandolin (I won’t) Â I’m sure I would feel a little more at home in the current Seattle scene.”

School of Seven Bells interview – “It’s really cool to be able to think about music and play music as a job. It helps to remember why you love it sometimes.”

For further updates on the festival as they’re published, check our dedicated Bumbershoot page. We will also be covering the festival live from Saturday morning onwards.